CHARLOTTE — After watching his kicker miss another crucial, fourth-quarter field goal Sunday, Panthers coach Ron Rivera made no guarantees Monday that Olindo Mare would keep his job.
Rivera did not rule out making a change at a position that was manned by John Kasay for 16 years until the last original Panther was released in July in a move that was made to free a roster spot. The Panthers employed a kickoff specialist in Kasay’s final few years in Charlotte.
Mare, 38, signed a four-year, $12 million deal — with $4 million guaranteed — to handle kickoffs and field goals and extra points. While Mare ranks second in the league with 42 touchbacks, he is 30th among 35 kickers in field goal accuracy at 76 percent (19 of 25).
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“This is a very veteran kicker, a very experienced guy that’s had a couple of misses. Very unfortunate,” Rivera said. “The timing of the misses are about as bad as they get, obviously. We’ve got to think this through and go through the process, and make sure we make good decisions.”
Mare has missed two short field goals that would have tied the game or given the Panthers the lead late — a 31-yarder in a 24-21 loss to Minnesota as time expired on Oct. 30, and a 36-yarder Sunday with 5:12 remaining in a 31-23 loss to Atlanta.
Mare pulled both attempts left at Bank of America Stadium, where fans booed him.
Asked after the game if he was frustrated by the misses, Mare said: “Whatever word you want to use … I’m sure it is for everybody else in this building. Especially the ones you’re supposed to make or you need to make — the ones that count.”
Rivera planned to meet with general manager Marty Hurney on Monday to talk about Mare and other personnel matters. Rivera left open the possibility that the Panthers could bring in kickers to try out today.
“We’re going to look at some things, obviously,” Rivera said. “We’re going to talk about it.”
Rivera said he had no regrets about cutting the popular Kasay, 42, who has made 84 percent (26 of 31) of his field goals with New Orleans and ranks 18th overall in accuracy.
“The reason we did it is we were looking for a two-for-one. We wanted to have one guy that was going to help us kick the ball off and kick field goals, and gain that spot back on the roster,” Rivera said. “We also wondered how long (Kasay) would have played, how much further down the road would he have gone. Those were all the factors that were made in that decision. That’s just the way that is.”
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